u
out of that dangerous crush."

His voice was drowned by a sudden roar which lifted the frenzy higher
and brought it nearer. The color and smiles fled again from Ruth's face,
and she clung to David in greater alarm.

"Take me home. Oh--oh--isn't it terrible! I can't wait to find William.
I must go now. I wouldn't be afraid to go alone with you, dear. Not in
the least afraid. Take me--take me!"

"Come, then," said David. "The pony's over here."

"But I don't know where my horse is. I don't know where William tied it.
I am so turned round that I don't know anything." She was beginning to
smile again at her own bewilderment.

"The pony can take us both," said the boy.

She was turning away with him when the doctor interfered with hesitating
eagerness:--

"If you will permit me--I would suggest that your friend who came with
you may be anxious. He will naturally try to find you. Not knowing that
you are gone, he must be alarmed. If I knew him by sight, I could find
him and tell him--"

Again his voice was lost in the rising roar of the multitude. The girl
buried her face against the boy's shoulder, shudderingly and trembling,
and burst into weeping.

"Tell me what to do, David! I can't bear this any longer," she sobbed.
"Take me away. Tell me what to do! Oh! Oh!" putting her shaking hands
over her ears to shut out the dreadful sounds.

The doctor touched her arm. "If you would allow me to take you home,
perhaps this young gentleman could stay and find the person who came
with you." He turned quickly to the boy. "You know him?"

"Yes," David replied unwillingly.

His heart had begun to beat high. Here was a better chance to prove
himself a man than he had dared hope for. And now this bold stranger was
trying to rob him of it. He struggled with himself for a moment, before
he could give it up. But Ruth was crying and trembling and clinging to
him.

"I will find William," he then said hastily. "Let the doctor take you
home."

"But my horse is lost," Ruth lifted her head from David's shoulder and
flashed a tearful, smiling glance at the doctor. "How can you take me?"

"Leave it to me," Paul Colbert said quickly, in the tone of a man used
to meeting emergencies. "Come with me. I will find a way."

It seemed to Ruth and David that he was one to find a way to whatever
he wished. They followed him like two children, to the spot where his
horse was tied beside the pony. He untied the bridle with the quickness